BOSTON — The other day after his first informal practice with the Bruins, Benoit Pouliot said he chatted with new teammate David Krejci about their vicious fight last season when Pouliot was still with the hated Montreal Canadiens.

After the Bruins’ physicals and conditioning tests today at TD Garden (on-ice practices begin tomorrow), Krejci said even that wasn’t necessary from the newest Bruin.

“It was nothing personal when we fought,” said Krejci. “He wanted to fight, I wanted to fight him, that’s what happened. He wanted to fight and there was no reason for him apologize to me or anything like that, it’s nothing personal. It’s business. That’s what happens in hockey. We talked about it and he seems like a nice guy. I don’t know him that well but I’m sure he’s a nice guy.”

The Pouliot fight was one of two Krejci engaged in during the season against Montreal. But it was the only one where he really had his lunch handed to him. Luckily for the Bruins, they don’t need Krejci to be a bruiser, they just need him to be their No. 1 center. He says he’s ready for another season of orchestrating the offense.

“Obviously there was a lots of games when the other team was making it hard on us, not just on the ice but they tried to throw us out of the game mentally,” said Krejci when asked about life as the No. 1 center. “So I’m kind of prepared for it this year and it should be a fun year.”

Krejci is lying when he said they both wanted to fight. If you fight like David you never want to fight. That was for his teammates to show he’d do some heavy lifting even if he got his lunch handed to him.

Maybe two of the handful of fights I was in was I mad enough to fight. The other ones I knew I’d probably lose but what the hell. Sometimes you’ve got to show up.

I think Krecji is certainly our offensive #1 pivot, but I do think of Bergey as a better all-around player and see him as being more important because of how excellent all the non-offensive aspects of his game are. His offense, while definitely above average for 2nd line and probably worthy of most top lines, is the only skill he doesn’t possess at an “elite” level. Krecji’s offense is better because he focuses on it at the expense of being just slightly above average on defense. That’s a good enough reason to put him on the top line.

Krecji is our number one centre. I hear the love for Bergy and agree whole-heartedly he may be our best all-round forward but a team’s number one middle man almost always is the guy with the most offensive upside and, for us, that’s Krecji. He added the exclamation point in taking the playoff scoring title last season and will follow it up by leading the B’s and pushing the 80 point mark this season. I see him being a top-20 scorer in 2012.

the other nifty
Always respect your opinion, and I think your reasoning regarding the a number one centre is good, but they probably have two guys that could be called a number one centre. My slam dunk in picking Bergeron is this; if Krejci were Canadian and Bergeron wasn’t, Steve Yzerman picks Vinny L of the Bolts to be his fourth centre, not Krecji, for the 2010 Canadian Olympic Team. Because of Bergeron’s all-around play he got the nod. I agree, it isn’t an easy pick.
By the way MattK and others, I am glad the Krejci is a Bruin.

Readers and people in general argue that the B’s don’t have a no.1 pivot. I think that can be attributed to both Krejci and Bergeron’s ability to play on the dirty side of the puck. They are complete players that might not rule the hi-lite reels.

One can muck with anyone and the other has a sweet underated set of mitts.

If I had to have one. I’m a Krejci fan so yeah I’m picking him. His vision and gumption over a shot blocking, puck gettin workhorse.

MattK
I am not a newcomer to hockey. I played Junior B years ago. But if you and I are picking in the parking lot for a team, then my first choice, at centre, is Bergeron. His game is more well-rounded than Krejci’s and he is more physical than Krejci. Krejci does play on the first line, but Bergeron does play on the penalty kill and he often is put on the PP point. The objective is to stop the other team from scoring as well as scoring goals. Ultimately, the line choices are more of the best match-ups, defensively and offensively.